Quarter of the population say they intend to go to church at Christmas

Once more this year, a large number of people are lying about their intention to attend a religious service over Christmas. A Yougov poll conducted for The Sun this week found that 24% of the 1,723 adults questioned said they intended to attend a church service.

The same question was asked last year at the same time and gave the same result. But the figures collected after Christmas showed that only something like 11% of people actually went to Church.

This is a familiar pattern with religious surveys. Respondents always overstate their commitment to religion, and it also explains why the census throws up such ridiculous figures about religious allegiance. It also indicates that the results of the Social Attitudes Survey may be even worse for the churches than the figures indicate.

Published Fri, 09 Dec 2011

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